After a year that would have challenged any AFL club, St Kilda must ponder what comes next.

Saturday night's elimination final loss left the Saints officially seventh and looking like a team needing to rebuild.

The final against the Swans was a microcosm of their season - poor early, a big comeback in the second half, but ultimately running out of puff.

Few clubs have had a worse buildup to a season than St Kilda this year.

After drawingthe grand final against Collingwood last season and then losing the replay badly, they suffered through months of controversy with the nude photo scandal.

There was also player misbehaviour on a pre-season trip to New Zealand.

After round eight, they only had one win and a draw from seven matches.

But the Saints have become renowned for their toughness and they were never going to lie down.

After the round-14 bye, St Kilda won eight out of 10 to climb into the top eight and secure the home elimination final.

Following the round-24 upset win over Carlton, which confirmed the home-ground advantage for this elimination final, coach Ross Lyon had pause to reflect.

First, he praised the core group of Saints stars who have been so good for so long - Nick Riewoldt, Lenny Hayes, Nick Dal Santo, Leigh Montagna, Brendon Goddard and Stephen Milne high among them.

Lyon noted that largely due to their greatness, the Saints had transformed themselves over the past decade.

They could so easily have won the 2009 and '10 grand finals.

"Clearly they've been better than they've been this year and I've coached better than I have this year," he said.

"But when you look back, it's been a long period of sustained finals appearances, it would be remiss ... it's something that (came) into my head."

A few minutes later at that post-match media conference, Lyon also admitted that uncertain times lie ahead.

"We're not the same team and we are in some transition," he said.

"We've had a lot of debutants, the list is a work in progress.

"We know we need some regeneration and some drafting."

Referring to the disastrous Andrew Lovett deal at the end of 2009, Lyon admitted "one or two trades" had gone wrong.

"There's been a period of drafting that hasn't been successful, we've put a lot of resources to remedy that," he said.

How quickly the remedies come is the burning question.

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